


Grieving Las Vegas

by storyhaus



Category: CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-17
Updated: 2018-01-17
Packaged: 2019-03-06 03:14:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,699
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13402248
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/storyhaus/pseuds/storyhaus
Summary: Alternate Universe.The team looks for a cold blooded killer.  More info at the beginning of the story.





	Grieving Las Vegas

Grieving Las Vegas  
AU--When photo's of the same man are captured at multiple crime scenes the CSI's begin to wonder if he's merely an observer until the man's own roommates are brutally murdered then they question if he's a killer or in the sights of one.  
Grissom, Warrick, Sara, Catherine, Brass and Doc Robbins are themselves.  
Nick is...well, you'll see.

"Hey Cath, there he is again." Warrick Brown, tall, lanky and dark skinned with a moderate afro, pointed to the man in his set of crime scene onlooker photo's.  
"I saw him at my last one." Catherine Willows, a foot shorter, strawberry blond hair and pale skinned nodded looking at their mystery man.  
Definitely attractive. Dark hair and eyes. Bet he's got some nice muscles under those long sleeves too.  
"Hey guys." Sara Sidle greeted entering the lab.   
She was a taller brunette with shoulder length hair and brown eyes, her most overt feature was the small gap between her upper front teeth.  
The trio composed the graveyard shift along with their supervisor Doctor Glibert Grissom.  
"Hey! I've seen that guy at my scene!" She pointed to him.  
"Yeah, he's been at our crime scenes too." Warrick nodded.  
"As far as I know none of our cases are related. Probably just a death junky." Catherine replied.  
"Yeah, we've seen those before." Warrick snorted.  
"Seen what?"  
"Hey Griss. This guy keeps showing up on scene." Warrick answered.  
"Some people get a thrill out of seeing death up close." The middle-aged, salt and pepper haired man answered handing Sara another assignment.  
"Ooh, a 415, assault with a deadly weapon, my last one involved a curling iron." She smirked and departed.  
"How's your case going?" Gissom asked Warrick as he removed his reading glasses.  
"I'm going to do a shoe tread comparison." Warrick held up his evidence and left too.  
"Brass just arrested my guy so I'm heading over there now." Catherine held up a file before he asked her too and departed the lab.  
Grissom picked up the photograph and studied the young man, he too had observed him observing them at a few scenes.  
Next time I'll have Jim speak to him.  
With that he placed the photo back in the file and headed to his office.  
******************************************************************************  
"It's a mess in there." Captain Jim Brass warned removing his booties."Four dead."   
"Noted." Grissom nodded and stepped inside the apartment.  
Brass wasn't kidding, not even a foot inside laid the first blood soaked body.  
With a shake of his head he pulled his cell phone out.  
"Catherine, all hands on deck." He told her, hung up and went about putting booties on to keep from contaminating the scene.

Grissom was examining the body by the door when the rest of his team arrived.  
"Three more in the back bedrooms." He told them.  
The trio put their own booties on and set to work.

"Man, what did these guys do to whoever killed them?" Warrick uttered snapping photo's.  
"Yeah, multiple stab wounds? Somebody was pissed." Sara agreed.  
"Hey." Catherine motioned to them from the doorway.  
Curious, they followed her to Grissom.  
"Four beds, all vic's accounted for." Sara said.  
"Actually, there's one missing." Catherine smiled mysteriously.  
"She's right. This guy's out here because he sleeps on the couch." Grissom pointed to it.  
There was a blanket and pillow on the three cushioned sofa.  
"I know who the missing man is. There's a bed still made. I found this photo on the bedside table." Catherine held it out to them.  
"That's--" Warrick frowned.  
"Our crime scene mystery man." Grissom nodded and pointed to the shelf above the t.v. "Men of Red Rock."  
"Are these guys strippers?" Sara asked retrieving the photo after snapping a picture of it for their files.  
"Go to Red Rock and ask." Grissom replied.  
"So is this guy the luckiest guy in the world or our killer?" Warrick asked.  
"That's what the evidence is for." Grissom answered.  
"I got names." Brass said entering the apartment. "Jim Avondale, Scotty Wolff, Xander Martin, Nick Stokes and Shane Preston."  
"Which one is he?" Sara asked pointing to the missing man in the photo she held.  
"I'll go ask the landlord." Brass replied and took the photo with him as he exited the apartment.  
"Who called it in?" Catherne asked.  
"Neighbor heard a loud crash." Grissom answered and motioned to the table and lamp on the floor.  
"So was this guy first or last in the stab parade?" Warrick asked.  
"Look for another way inside, that might tell us the answer." Grissom said and Warrick nodding going outside.  
"Hey, guys name is Nick Stokes." Brass told them and put names to the other men in the photo's before handing it back to Sara. "Guess I'd better find this Stokes kid and he'd better have some answers."  
"He's not a suspect...yet." Grissom reminded him.  
Brass snorted and left to put out an All Points Bulletin on Nick Stokes.  
"Guess I'll head to the casino." Sara said taking the photo and leaving.  
"I'll finish up in the back." Catherine nodded and took her photo with her.  
She looked at Nick Stokes with six other adults.  
Friends? Family? Are you a killer Nick Stokes or to paraphrase Warrick, a lucky son of a bitch?  
"As Grissom says, the evidence will tell us."

Warrick saw a window open an inch and used his flashlight to look for footprints under it but frowned seeing rocks.  
Shaking his head Warrick moved to the windowsill, he dusted it and lifted several prints which he'd have to compare to their victims and Nick Stokes too when Brass found him.  
After snapping several photo's of the window from various angles he easily lifted it up.  
"A crime waiting to happen." He uttered and headed for the door to check it out from the inside.

Grissom checked the kitchen and after testing each knife for human blood he deduced the killer brought the knife with him and left with it when he was finished.  
"Hey, get this," Brass said coming inside, "the old lady upstairs says this Stokes kid went with Mrs. Walden to the hospital for some surgery she had to have. Guy's a saint." Brass rolled his eyes.  
"Maybe he's just a nice guy." Grissom replied.  
"We'll see. I'm going to head to the hospital to question him."  
"Think I'll tag along." Grissom said nodding to David Phillips who was just arriving.  
He let Catherine and Warrick, who'd just come back inside, know and they climbed into Brass' Taurus and drove off.  
******************************************************************************  
"Yeah, that's my 'Rock It' Club." The manager Angie Clarkson, a bottle blond middle-aged woman nodded at the picture Sara showed her.  
"Rock It Club?" Sara asked.  
"When those boys rock it the women rocket." She laughed.  
"What can you tell me about Nick Stokes?" Sara smiled.  
"Is he in some kind of trouble?" Angie asked concerned.  
"The others were all murdered last night." Sara replied bluntly.  
"Oh my God! Who? Why? Those guys are...were...good guys! Sometimes they could be jerks, well, not Nick. You said the others were murdered but Nick is alright?"  
"As far as we know. We're trying to find him." Sara nodded.  
"He's a good kid." Angie sighed.  
"Tell me about him."  
"He arrived here two years ago. Said he was from Dallas and needed a job. Good looking kid, nice body. The boys needed a fifth after Roger O.D.'d so I hired him."  
"No problems with him?"  
"No, he's actually the easiest hire i"ve ever had." Angie shook her head.  
"No problems with his co-workers? No arguments between them?" Sara inquired.  
"No. If you knew Nick you wouldn't ask that."  
"Okay." Sara nodded taking a different tact, "Was there anybody acting odd around them? Any threats toward them...or you?"  
"There's always a few odd balls but no one who really stands out and there've been no specific threats toward the boys." Angie replied.  
"But there have been threats?"  
"There are always are, religious fanatics mostly that stand out front shouting at them." Angie shrugged.  
"Any written threats?" Sara asked.  
"I gave them to the police to investigate." Angie nodded.  
"Okay, thank you for your help. I'm sorry for your loss." Sara added and left the woman.  
****************************************************************************  
"Hey, you got anything?" Warrick asked as Catherine closed her crime scene kit.  
"A few bloody shoe prints." She replied.  
"I got a bunch of fingerprints off the bathroom window from the outside that I need to compare to the vic's."   
"Let's head back then." She nodded and they left for the lab.  
******************************************************************************  
"We're looking for Nick Stokes." Brass held up the man's photo and his badge.  
"He's in with Mrs. Walden, if you gentlemen will have a seat I'll tell him you're here." The nurse answered and headed down the hall.  
Grissom watched what room she went into then sat in the plastic chair at the desk.  
A few moments later the man from the photo appeared and walked over to them frowning.  
"Nick Stokes?" Brass asked looking him over, he was definitely the kid in the photo, though he was wearing jeans and a blue tee shirt instead of dress pants and shirt as in the photo.  
"Yeah?"  
"I'm Captain Brass, this is Gil Grissom, we have some questions to ask you."  
"About what?"  
Grissom detected a strong southern accent.  
"You room mates were murdured tonight." Brass said watching him closely for his reaction.  
"Is this some sick joke?" Nick glared at them.  
"I'm sorry, it's not a joke." Grissom said gently.  
"I just...I just talked to Scotty a few hours ago." Nick uttered, tears coming to his eyes.  
"Sit down kid." Brass said taking pity on him, "When did you talk to him?" He asked.  
"Ten-thirty or so. I told him I wuldn't be home tonight. Mrs. Walden asked me to stay." Nick breathed sitting heavily. "What happened to them?"  
"They were stabbed to death." Grissom answererd.  
"Oh Lord! Who would do that?!?" Nick shook his head shocked.  
"We were hoping you could tell us." Brass answered.  
"I don't now." Nick looked from one man to the other, "I don't know of anyone who would hate them that much."  
"Does Mrs. Walden have any family?" Grissom asked.  
"What? What does that have to do with my friends murders?" Nick asked confused.  
"Just seems odd is all, you're here but her family isn't..." Brass let it hang.  
"Her only son was killed in an accident ten years ago with his wife and six year old son. She says I remind her of her grandson, I say yes ma'am and no ma'am..." Nick trailed off.  
"I need to fingerprint you." Grissom opened his case and Nick let him brushing away a stray tear on his cheek. "Thank you. Just one more question?" He added handing him a paper towel to clean his fingers when he was finished.  
Nick sniffed a few more tears back and looked at him as he wiped the print ink off his fingers.  
"Why have you been at our crime scenes?" Grissom asked curiously as he closed his kit.  
"Scotty got me hooked. He loved listening to the police scanner and going to the scene. I thought what you did was interesting." Nick answered.  
"We'll be in touch." Brass said and led Grissom away.  
"Captain?"  
"Yeah kid?" Brass turned back to Nick.  
"Whoever tells Scotty's mom...be gentle, he was an only child." Nick told them.  
Brass nodded and they boarded the elevator.  
"That kid's not a killer." Brass muttered as the doors closed.  
Grissom agreed and vowed to Nick they'd find out who was responsible.  
*****************************************************************************  
Nick was numb.  
His co-workers...his friends, were dead. Murdered. Someone had taken their lives. For what? What reason would anyone have for killing these guys?  
Nick broke down grieving for them.  
It never occured to him he might well have died with them had he been home.  
He pulled himself together several minutes later and returned to Mrs. Walden's hospital room.  
No reason to upset her, she had enough to worry about with her surgery in the morning.  
******************************************************************************  
"Hey Griss, all but two of the prints I found belong to our vic's. They must have forgotten their keys from time to time and just left the bathroom window open an inch to get inside their place." Warrick reported.  
"Nick Stokes prints." Grissom handed the card to him.  
"So what'd he have to say?"   
"He called Scott Wolff at 10:30 so his alibi is solid, we checked the phone records. The neighbor reported the crash at around 11, he was at the hospital then according to the nurses."  
Warrick nodded and checked Nick's prints with the two unknows.  
"Got a match. Still one unknown." He showed Grissom.  
"Probably our killer's then." Grissom nodded as Catherine walked in.  
"Nike, size 9." She reported.  
"So they did work at Red Rock, a dance group called Rock It Club. The manager says Nick Stokes is a stand-up guy." Sara said joining them.  
"This Stokes guy say why he's been to our scenes?" Warrick asked.  
"He thinks waht we do is interesting." Grissom smiled.  
"Smart man." Catherine joked.  
"Yeah Jim?" Grissom answered his phone. "I'll be right there." He replied and hung up turning to the team, "Nick Stokes was stabbed at the hospital, he's in surgery. Let's go."  
*******************************************************************************  
Nick watched Mrs. Walden wheeled out to surgery.  
With a sigh he headed to the men's room to empty his bladder from the coffee he'd drunk.  
Once he'd finished he was washing his hands, he looked in the mirror and sighed at his haggard face.  
He splashed some water on his face and reached for a paper towel, briefly noticing another man in a red ball cap as he dried his face.  
There was a sudden burning pain in his side, he gripped the edge of the sink as his legs buckled.  
He grunted feeling another burning in his back and fell to the floor.  
Sorry mom, Cisco...love you, were his last thoughts as his eyes slid closed.  
*********************************************************************************  
"Hey, the guy over there went to use the men's room and found him." Brass informed the team when they arrived motioning to the elderly gentleman.  
"Warrick, Sara, examine the scene. Let's find out who decided to finish the job." Grissom ordered and the pair picked up their cases heading for the bathroom.  
"I shoulda put a cop on him." Brass lamented.  
"It was only a few hours ago his room mates were murdered. Somehow our killer found out he was here." Catherine said.  
"I'll have the neighbors interviewed again, maybe someone's been asking questions." Brass nodded.  
"We have to contact his family, if he has any." Catherine added.  
"Yeah. Judge Stokes and Jillian Stokes, she's a defense attorney. I smell a lawsuit in our future." Brass sighed. "I'd better make that call." He said and left them.  
"I'm going to go back to their apartment, take a second look around." Grissom nodded.  
"I'll stay here, see if I can talk to Nick after surgery." Catherine said.  
"Alright." He nodded and left.

"The kids parents are flying in asap." Brass told her ten minutes later.  
"I can imagine what they're feeling." Catherine replied thinking of her young daughter Lindsey.  
"Me too." Brass nodded, he had a daughter too, Ellie, grown and a street walker.  
Would I even know if something like this happened to her?  
"Grissom went back to the scene." Catherine told him.  
"I'll head on over there." Brass nodded and left too.

"Guy was just using the facilities." Warrick shook his head.  
"If he had been at home, he'd have been the fifth victim." Sara replied.  
"Yeah, guess it was good he got stabbed in the hospital then. Somebody really hated these guys." He added as he found a partial shoe print in blood by the door and lifted it.  
"After we're done here I'm going to talk to Angie Clarkson again, see if she has video's of the auditions, maybe it was someone who didn't make the cut." Sara suggested.  
"Let's hope we're that lucky . I'll check out the threats you said were made against them." Warrick nodded, "After I run this stuff."   
"Sounds like a plan." Sara agreed and took more photo's as he readied to dust for fingerprints.

Catherine sipped her lukewarm coffee as she sat in the uncomfortable plastic chair.  
It had been three hours of waiting for Nick to come out of surgery.  
Warrick and Sara had gone half an hour before, Grissom was still at the original scene with Brass as she found out after calling him.  
Glancing down the hall she saw the officer Brass had sent to guard Nick Stokes when he came out of surgery.  
Standing she tossed the coffee cup and stretched.  
"Are you here for Mister Stokes?"  
"Yes, Catherine Willows." She showed the dotor her I.D. badge.  
"He's a very lucky man. His small intestine was punctured which we repaired fairly easily. Our bigger concern was the stab wound to his kidney. We're filtering it now and it's just a wait and see how severe the damage is." The doctor informed her.  
"When do you think I'll be able to interview him?"  
"It'll be several hours before he regains consciousness."  
"Alright, I need to process him and his clothes." She said lifting her case.  
"I'll take you to him." The medic nodded and led her down the hall.  
The officer fell in behind them and they went to Nick's room.  
Catherine shook her head at seeing the attractive young man hooked to the machines, she made a quick phone call, then set about her job of collecting evidence from him and taking photo's of his injuries.

Brass found Grissom in the back yard looking up a tree.  
He glanced up then at the other man with a frown.  
"Our killer stalked them. Knew their routines. Knew they left the bathroom window open an inch."  
"The kid made it through surgery. I put an officer on his door."  
"I found a shoe print and some fibers." Grissom poited to the base of the tree with a nod of acknowledgement.  
"Good, maybe we'll catch this guy and save this kid from him for good." Brass nodded.

"Miss Clarkson, did you vidoe tape the auditions?" Sara asked hopefully.  
"Actually, I did. I auditioned a dozen men before I hired Nick. When they other boys passed on them a few got pissed." The manager nodded and found the tapes in her office handing them over.  
"Thank you." Sara nodded placing them in a brown bag.  
"Catch this guy." The blonde requested as her phone rang.  
Sara nodded again and left.

Grissom, Sara and Warrick were in the lab processing their evidence when Grissom's phone rang.  
"Catherine? Alright, I'll find Brass and we'll head over there." He replied and hung up. "Nick Stokes is awake."  
"Let's hope he saw the guy that attacked him." Warrick called as Grissom left the lab.  
"Let's finish this up and look at those tapes." Sara said and he nodded returning to his task.

"I want to see my son."   
Grissom nodded to Catherine and they walked over to the desk.  
"Mister and Mrs. Stokes?" She asked.  
"Who are you?" The imposing man asked.  
"Catherine Willows, Gil Grissom, Las Vegas Crime Lab." She answered and they showed the couple their I.D.'s  
"Where is my son?" Mrs. Stokes pleaded.  
"What happened to him? Captain...Brass? said he was stabbed." Judge Stokes said.  
"Come sit down and we'll explain." Catherine motioned and Mrs. Stokes took her husband's arm and followed the woman to the chairs.  
"Tell us." Judge Stokes ordered as his wife sat.  
"Your son was sharing an apartment with four other men...those men were murdered early this morning. We believe the person who killed them came after your son." Grissom answered.  
"Why? Who would do this?" Mrs. Stokes asked paling.  
Grissom looked at Catherine who sighed, she would have to explain what their son was doing in Vegas.  
"Do you know how your son was making a living here?" Catherine asked.  
"We haven't heard from Nick since he left home two years ago. We didn't even know he was in Las Vegas." The Judge admitted.  
"Your son was dancing at a strip club." Catherine broke the news to them.  
"My son took his clothes off for money?!?" Judge Stokes asked angrily.  
"This is our fault." His wife shook her head.  
"Jilly--"  
"No Bill! Nick left because of us!" She looked at him unflinchingly, then turned to Catherine. "All of our children followed in our footsteps and became lawyers. Nick studied a year of pre-law at Rice University, he came to us saying he wasn't cut out to be a lawyer. Things were said, things that couldn't be unsaid. When I came home from work the next day he was gone." She said wiping a tear away.  
"I lost my temper when he said he didn't know what he wanted to do instead of being a lawyer. As long as he was living under my roof he was going to be a lawyer. I never thought he'd come here and strip." Bill shook his head.  
"Mister and Mrs. Stokes? I'm Captain Jim Brass." he introduced himself joining them.  
"Thank you for calling us Captain." The Judge shook his hand.  
"We need to interview him." Brass said.  
"What do we say to him?" Jillian asked Catherine, as if she intuited a fellow mother.  
"You tell Nick you love him...no matter what's happened. The past is the past." Catherine counseled.  
Jillian nodded and stood.  
"May we have a few minutes alone with him?" She requested of Brass who nodded.  
They all walked to Nick's room and the Stokes went inside.  
"I talked to the neighbors, reporters have been nosing around. Our killer could have passed himself off as one too." Brass informed them as they waited.  
"We need to find this guy...for Nick's sake." Catherine replied.  
"Nick?" Brass arched an eyebrow at her.  
"He's a twenty-two year old kid." She rolled her eyes at him.

Nick heard the door open and fotsteps approach the bed, he assumed it was the doctor again so didn't bother to open his eyes.  
"Honey?"  
His eyes flew open and he gaped.  
"Mom? Dad? What're y'all doing here?" He asked stunned.  
"Captain Brass told us you'd been stabbed." Bill answered.  
Jillian hugged him, "We love you honey." She whispered in his ear tearfully.  
"I love you too." He replied swallowing his own tears and hugging her back as much as his injured body would allow.  
"We know everything Pancho." Bill told him.  
Nick dropped his eyes embarrassed.  
"It doesn't matter honey, we want you to come home." Jillian squeezed his hand.  
Nick looked at his father, he needed to know it wasn't just his mother requesting he return to Texas.  
"I'm sorry." Bill told him.  
Nick knew it took a lot for his father to apologize and he nodded.  
"Me too. I still don't want to be a lawyer." He replied.  
"We'll figure something out." Bill answered.  
"Knock. Knock." Brass said from the doorway.  
"Come in Captain." Bill said.  
"Thank you." Jillian nodded to him for giving them a few minutes with their son.  
"You feel up to telling us what happened?" Brass asked NIck leading Grissom and Catherine over to the bed.  
"Yeah." Nick nodded looking at the beautiful strawberry blond who smiled and introduced herself as CSI Willows.  
"I went to the bathroom after they took Mrs. Walden to surgery...I'd had a few cups of coffee...I was finished with my business and washing my hands...I felt this burning in my side then in my back. I guess I fell." Nick shrugged.  
"Did you see who did it?" Brass asked.  
"No. There was a guy in a red baseball cap just before that though. I saw shoes leaving...black Nikes with yellow laces. They were new."   
"How could you tell?" Grissom asked curiously.  
"The treads weren't worn down and the laces still looked clean." Nick replied.  
"Excuse me." Grissom apologized as his phone rang and he stepped into the hall.  
"You don't remember anything about the actual man? Anything that stood out featurewise?" Catherine asked with an encouraging smile.  
"An earring. In his right ear, a small gold hoop." Nick closed his eyes concentrating.  
"That'll help kid." Brass noted it, "How about hair color?"  
"Brown, light...and curly, it stuck out of the back of the cap." Nick answered, eyes still closed.  
"Clothes?" Brass prompted.  
"Dark." Nick shrugged and laid back opening his eyes exhaustedly.  
"That's good kid, a real eye for details." Brass praised.  
"All the shoe treads match, it was a Nike." Grissom told them returning.  
"Same guy." Catherine nodded. "Nick gave us a bit of a description too."  
"Good. Go back and watch the tapes with Sara, maybe we can I.D. him." Grissom ordered quietly seeing Nick's eyes droop closed.  
"I might have more questions later but we'll go and let him rest for now." Brass added.  
"I'll walk you out." Bill Stokes said and once in the hall he turned to them, "Find the animal who did this." He requested.  
"We're doing everything possible." Brass assured him.  
"Nick's showed up at our scenes the last few months. He finds our job interesting." Grissom said looking at Nick's father.  
"With his eye for details he'd make a good cop." Brass added.  
"Or CSI." Catherine said,"Criminalists are as much law enforcement as lawyers are Judge Stokes. Just something to keep in mind."  
The trio nodded leaving him to ponder what they'd said.  
********************************************************************************  
Sara and Catherine watched the tapes amused.  
"I gotta say, Nick is really good. No wonder she hired him." Catherine nodded at him on the large screen monitor.  
"You ever see a show?" Sara asked.  
"Never time." Catherine shook her head, though if I'd know about Nick Stokes I might have made the time, she mused.  
"Donald O'Malley." Sara wrote the man's name down as he said it on camera and they watched him dance.  
"Not bad. He's no Nick Stokes though." Sara joked.  
"Also not a match to the description Nick gave us." Catherine shook her head at the blond man on the screen.  
"Next." Sara held up another tape and Catherine removed the one in the player.  
***************************************************************************  
"Hey Griss, I ran the Nike's through the database and they've sold seven pairs in the last three weeks at two shoe stores in town. If Catherine and Sara get our guy on tape I'll take it the stores, see if they have him on tape too or the employee's can I.D. him.  
"Good." Grissom nodded and headed for the stairs and the morgue, Doc Robbins autopsy of the other men was done.

"Grissom." Doc Robbins nodded to him. "Each man suffered multiple stab wounds which they bled out from. Mister Avondale had an additional wound to his head, the blow would have incapacitated him for a time."  
"He was in the room with Shane Preston. He had to be knocked unconscious while the other one was stabbed." Grissom deduced and thought out the scenario.  
The killer enters through the cracked bathroom window carrying a knife...he stabs Scotty Wolff who's asleep in the bedroom he normally shares with Nick Stokes who's at the hospital with Mrs. Walden. He next moves to the room with Avondale and Preston and knocks out Avondale, Preston has no time to fight back even if he heard his room mate assaulted as he was quickly stabbed to death. He turns the knife on Preston killing him as well. Three down, two to go, there's no sign of Nick Stokes so he makes his way into the livingroom and attacks Xander Martin leaving him for dead before escaping. Martin crawls to the table, probably to stand but his injuries are too severe and he falls, pulling the table and lamp to the floor making a loud crash getting the neighbors attention and they call 911.  
"Can you tell what kind of knife was used?" Grissom asked.  
"A kitchen knife, seems standard from the wounds." Doc Robbins replied.  
"Thanks Doc."  
Robbins nodded and watched him go.  
*******************************************************************************  
"Son, Mister Grissom said you were interested in what they do. Is that true?" Bill asked.  
"Yes sir." Nick nodded.  
"Do you want to be a crime scene investigator honey?" Jillian asked him.  
"I think so." He answered.  
"When we get home we'll look into it. First thing is to get you healed then we'll look into forensics programs at Texas colleges." Bill nodded.  
"Thank you sir." Nick nodded gratefully.  
All it took to get me back to my family was someone wanting me dead.  
Jillian answered the bedside phone an held it out to him, "It's for you honey." She smiled and rose when he accepted the phone.  
"Hello? Hey Jeannie." He smiled tearfully.  
Bill and Jillian left him to speak to his sister in private.  
"Thank you Bill." Jillian hugged her husband.  
"I want our son home as much as you do." He replied holding her.  
"I never doubted my career choice, I don't think the other kids doubted theirs either...maybe this is what Nick is meant to do." She said.  
"We'll find out." Bill nodded.  
*****************************************************************************  
"Grissom," Catherine motioned, "we have a suspect."  
He watched the video with her, Sara and Warrick.  
"I already called Brass, he's checking the guy out." Warrick told him shaking his head, "White man really can't dance."  
"No rhythm." Catherine nodded.  
"But is he our killer?" Grissom wanted to know.  
"Brass will--" Sara was cut off by Grissom's phone.  
"Yes Jim?" He looked at his team, "I see. We'll meet you there." He replied and hung up. "He has a search warrant and an address, let's go."  
"How'd he get the warrant?" Catherine asked surprised as all their evidence was circumstantial.  
"Seems our suspect wrote a few threatening letters to the Red Rock." Grissom answered as they exited the lab.

"Step outside Mister Slurpp." Brass ordered handing him the search warrant.  
"I'm calling my lawyer!" The short man sneered.  
"Fine, you can do it from out here." Brass retorted as Grissom's team entered the apartment.  
"Somebody's obsessed." Warrick motioned toward all the Rock It Club photo's as he took pictures of them for their case.  
"Size nine." Catherine held up a pair of shoes in front of the couch.  
"I'll look for the black Nike's with yellow laces." Sara said and headed down the hall.  
Grissom took his kit into the kitchen and tested all the knives...all had blood residue...just not the human kind.  
For an hour they thoroughly explored the apartment.  
"No black Nike's." Sara reported.  
"No murder weapon." Grissom replied.  
"Nothing." Catherine sighed as she and Warrick joined them.  
They were feeling discouraged when they all heard the same sound.  
Warrick was out the door first.  
"Hold up! Hold up!" He shouted to the trash truck on the next block.  
Sara arrived wearing coveralls and tossed him a pair, laying down a plastic tarp she instructed the driver to dump the trash onto it.  
Warrick pulled the coveralls on and they went through the trash bag by bag.  
"Gotcha!" Warrick crowed in triumph at the fourth garbage bag he'd opened.

Grissom and Catherine watched the pair walking back carrying a black garbage bag and wide smiles.  
"Dexter Slurpp, you are under arrest for four counts of murder and one account of attempted murder." Brass said putting him on handcuffs.  
"I showed them! Even that Texan!" Slurpp sneered.  
Brass exchanged looks with the CSI's and led their suspect away.  
"Let's get this back and processed." Grissom ordered and they left too.

*******************************************************************************

'Supervisor Grissom you have a guest at reception.' He heard over the p.a. and headed to the front of the lab.  
"Mister Stokes." He nodded to Nick and his parents.  
"I just wanted to say thanks for finding their killers." Nick replied, he'd have offered his right hand but it was leaning on the cane the hospital had given him to ease the strain on his injuries.  
"We were just doing our job."   
"Still...thanks for talking to my parents too." Nick nodded his gratitude.  
"We can always use more investigators." Grissom replied.  
"That an invitation?" Nick smiled.  
"Study hard and we'll see." Grissom met his eyes.  
"Time to go son." Bill said touching his arm.  
"Thanks again Mister Grissom." Nick nodded and left with them.  
"Was that Nick?" Catherine asked joining him.  
"Yeah. He's going home."  
"Good. He's too young to be exposed to that Vegas." She nodded and walked away.  
Grissom couldn't disagree.

******************************************************************************  
Six years later...

Gil Grissom hung up the phone with a half-smile, rose and left his office heading for the front of the lab.  
"CSI Stokes." He offered his hand to the young man.  
"Hello again sir." Nick nodded and shook the hand.  
"Welcome back to Las Vegas. Let me introduce you to the team." Grissom said and led him into the LVPD Crime Lab where he was newly employed as a Crime Scene Investigator, Level 2.  
Nick had worked hard for this.  
Four years of studying criminal justice with a major in forensic science at Texas A&M University.  
Two years of practical experience at the Dallas Crime Lab.  
Seeing the notice for the LVPD Crime Lab opening and sending in his resume.  
His heart leapt when Doctor Grissom called him personally and set up a time he could flying in for an interview with he and Captain Brass, who was the head of the graveshift team.  
By the end of the interview they told him he had two weeks to move lock,stock and barrel to Las Vegas.  
His parents had given him six months rent and tearfully wished him well.  
They were proud of him and he knew it which made him grateful for the second chance he'd received with them.  
Taking a deep breath to calm his nerves he met Catherine, Warrick and Sara as well as the lab technicians he'd be working with.  
I'm finally where I belong, he smiled and got to work.

the end 2013


End file.
